FILE - This Dec. 2013 file image taken from a video by KDFW-FOX 4, Ethan Couch, who killed four people in a drunken wreck in 2013, appears for his court hearing in Fort Worth, Texas. Couch’s family has settled with some, but not all, of the victims suing them. Court records indicate the family has settled three lawsuits brought against them, including suits involving three of the four people who died. But at least four other lawsuits have not been settled. (AP Photo/KDFW-FOX 4, File) (The Associated Press)
Texas authorities are searching for the teenager who killed four people in a 2013 drunken-driving wreck near Fort Worth, then claimed as part of his defense that he suffered from "affluenza."
The Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday that Ethan Couch's attorneys say a juvenile probation officer has been unable to contact Couch, 18, or his mother for several days. Reagan Wynn and Scott Brown said a judge has issued a "directive to apprehend" Couch or his mother, with whom he was living.
Couch was 16 when he drunkenly rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people in 2013, killing four. Two years ago, he was given 10 years' probation after his attorneys asserted Couch's wealthy parents coddled him into irresponsibility. Prosecutors wanted a maximum sentence of 20 years in state custody.
A "directive to apprehend" from a juvenile court is the equivalent of an arrest warning. The Tarrant County District Attorney's office says that Couch faces a prison sentence of up to 10 years if he is found to have violated the terms of his probation.
The Dallas Morning News also reported that authorities are looking into whether Couch is one of several young men who appear in a video of several young men playing beer pong. The person who posted the video online Dec. 2 accused Couch of violating his probation, which prohibits him from drinking alcohol, using drugs or driving. He is also required to attend rehab.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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